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Status of FEMA Assistance to Puerto Rico

A GAO assessment.

Puerto Rico will be in the annals of American disasters for a long time to come. See this most recent U.S. Government Accountability Office report: Puerto Rico Hurricanes: Status of FEMA Funding, Oversight, and Recovery Challenges.

Reading between the lines and then also from a few anecdotal stories told to me, not only was the Puerto Rico infrastructure a mess, but their ability to manage complex projects as a government was also deficient — and perhaps remains deficient. Thus you have additional control procedures and processes being put in place by FEMA. 

Claire Rubin, Senior Researcher, shared the link above.

Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.